The Lincoln Police Department is hosting a training session for local law enforcement agencies today with a national program that assists in the search of missing children, the elderly (often with Alzheimer’s), and the disabled in the first critical hours of their disappearance. A Child Is Missing Alert Program. (ACIM) is the only program of its kind in the country and the national ACIM program is funded by a federal grant from the US Department of Justice.

A Child Is Missing Alert is a non-profit organization that uses a high technology telephone alert system to canvas a neighborhood with calls describing the missing person and asking anyone with leads to call their local law enforcement. Alert calls are launched within 15 minutes from request for assistance at a rate of 1,000 calls per 60 seconds. A Child Is Missing Alert can work in tandem with the Amber Alert. ACIM relays information to the public immediately. The only criteria are that a child or elderly person is missing. However, there are incidences where both programs could be activated.

A Child Is Missing Alert has been serving law enforcement since 1997 and to date, over 11 million telephone alert calls have been made to help find missing individuals. A Child Is Missing Alert has been credited by law enforcement with 290 safe assisted recoveries.